Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 11:33:37 -0400
From: Maggie Heineman
Subject: More Religious Right Reaction to Amend.
The following is Focus on the Family's reaction to the Supreme Court
decision ruling Colorado's Amendment 2 unconstitutional. It is taken
from excerpts of the Family News in Focus radio program.
(posted by Brian Gocial, People For the American Way, bgocial@pfaw.org)
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Family News in Focus
May 21, 1996
--Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's Amendment 2. "It's a sad day for
America when a court says that people are not in a position to vote their
conscience," said Will Perkins of CO for Family Values. "It goes a long way
in giving their sexual perversion constitutionally, legally protected
status." Jordan Lorence: "The laws that are going to have a problem now
are the laws that single out homosexuals and say they can't be in the
military, they can't adopt children, things like that." Steve McFarland of
the Christian Legal Society says, "there is no danger in this ruling that
churches are going to have to hire homosexuals as youth ministers," but
Jordan Lorence says that's little consolation. Lorence: "I just shudder to
see how this is going to be used. The homosexuals have just been handed a
huge victory." He predicts homosexual activists will continually cite this
ruling in their campaign to legitimize their behavior.
--Aftermath of Amendment 2 in Colorado. Tom McMillan of the Rocky Mountain
Family Council says, "My primary concern now is for the people of Colorado
who continue to have their will thwarted by both elected officials and by
unelected judges."
Will Perkins says his group will not give up trying to stop homosexuals
special rights. Gary Bauer reaction: "This is a terrible decision and it's
much larger than just a terrible decision on gay rights. It calls into
question whether we are a self-governing people. The Court.... has struck
down a vote of the majority of the people of the state of Colorado."
On the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision, Bauer said, "you may remember that some
of these nominees were called stealth nominees. Justice Souter, Justice
O'Connor. The idea was that they were secretly much more conservative than
anybody thought but they were being nominated so they could get through the
Senate more easily. It ends up they were stealth nominees but the stealth
was in the other direction. These two justices have become now predictable
liberals on every issue related to values or social issues...."
Family News in Focus
May 22, 1996
Monday's Supreme Court decision on Amendment 2 will soon be the subject of
Congressional hearings. Rep. Charles Canady says his subcommittee will ask
legal scholars how the decision will impact relationship between the states
and the federal government. Canady: "One of the things that concerns me
most about this decision is that it's an intrusion into the ability of the
states to order their own affairs." Canady hopes some of those legal
scholars will offer suggestions about what Congress can do to counter the
decision. He adds the ruling will not slow down efforts to pass the Defense
of Marriage Act.